joining me now from washington, d.c. is tom blank, former head of tsa policy. good to see you, good morning. we've had a series of debates ever since christmas day about how effective or ineffective patdowns are and these screening machines are 73 let's start with the patdowns, do you think they have a place in aviation security? >> they certainly have a place in aviation security. we don't want to eliminate any tools when we're dealing with people like the christmas day terrorist. >> certainly in the short-term, since so few places have access to the more sophisticated screening machines? >> i think what we've got to do is figure out a way to expedite the deployment of the x-ray, and technologies. this is what's going to help us find explosive material, organic material at the checkpoint. that's what the patdown is designed to do. but we shouldn't be relying on that when we have technology that can do a much, much better job for us. >> you know, i've heard a lot of conflicting information about that. we just had someone on in the last hour about exactly how ef